Butterflies and Hurricanes
by Lilly for Algernon
Summary: “I miss you too.” She said so softly that if he had been awake Logan would have had trouble hearing it. “All the time. Sorry about that.” Alternate Super Cool Party People. Rogan.
1. Momentum

She bumped into him five days before the phone call, at her favorite coffee stand.

On that particular day she'd been so late for her Philosophy class she had practically run him over in her haste to ingest proper amounts of coffee. Logan had remained upright for the most part, but his books littered the ground.

"Damn it." She had growled, failing to realize the owner of the books in time. "I'm so…"

She'd looked up into familiar, brown eyes and swallowed her words.

"Hi Logan." She'd said finally, shaky smile stretching her features.

Gracefully the boy had leant down and scooped up his dusty books, his own smile more sincere then her own. He'd chuckled softly.

"Hey Ace. How's Yale going for you?"

"Fine. Busy. You know how it is."

With jerky movements Rory had positioned herself at the stand and ordered her coffee, Logan indicated for the barista to double her order and the couple stared at each other for thirty long seconds with nothing to say. Six months ago to meet and talk with him outside a coffee stand, or even in her bed would have been a daily ritual to be enjoyed. Yet despite the fact they had reached a level of maturity that if Rory could do nothing to avoid him, she would make strained conversation on the seldom occurrences when they bumped into each other, seeing Logan standing in front of her larger then life, was just plain weird.

"So." Rory had said finally. "What is the esteemed Huntzberger up to these days?"

Logan's eyes lit up, and for a moment Rory's gut had twisted in pleasure at the boyish glee in that gaze.

"The Life and Death Brigade is making another daring chapter in the novel of life and hitting Costa Rica for a few days."

"Oh." Rory's lips had tilted up into a smile at the memory of the first and only full-blown gathering she had attended. 'What's the stunt?"

Excitement had wormed itself into Logan's body and when he spoke, he spoke so passionately Rory had smiled with him in nostalgia. Logan had always been so alive, so unexpected.

"The boys are going to don parachutes and jump from a two engine plane. Then there'll be base-jumping down a cliff, where finally we'll land on the banks of the San Juan River… Hopefully not actually in the river or on the Nicaraguan side of the river, or you know, in Panama."

Rory gaped at him, warmth that had thread its way through her heart begun to recoil as she had tried to imagine the reality of such a jump.

"Oh."

If Logan had noticed her discomfort it must have only paused him for a second, her shock aggravated by his urgent chuckles.

"And I haven't even told you about the white water rafting, or the massive blow up at the end."

"Please tell me you don't mean that literally. With the blowing up and the dynamite and the Finn…"

Despite the lightness of her voice, she failed to see in hindsight how Logan could have missed the severity of her words. Indeed tension did seem to worm itself into Logan's features.

"Nope. Just copious amounts of alcohol."

"But you've got people organizing it. Professional, sober, preferably adult people."

Logan's lips had disappeared into a straight line of indignation.

"We have Robert." He said defensively.

"Oh." Rory had replied with a roll of her eyes. "Well if you have Robert."

The two young adults paused in their conversation as the custodian of the coffee stand passed them two cups of coffee. Her hands had wrapped around the warm shell of the coffee cup.

"Well." She said coolly, indicating towards her cup. "I've got what I came for."

"Yeah." Logan had replied, voice no longer light. "That you have."

They had parted with out goodbyes, and Rory had watched Logan disappear while she had waited for her anger to disappear. Years later, she would never forgive herself for watching him leave. Days later she would want to die for letting him go so easily.

Five days later her phone was ringing at the worst possible time. It jittered restlessly in her pocket, singing loudly about being a teenaged dirt bag as she tried to slide it out of her pocket while keeping a steady hold on her intoxicated mother. It failed to occur to her in the moment that it was her ex boyfriend's ring tone ringing loudly through the house. She passed her mother into the waiting arms of her father, far less drunk then the woman whose arms wound around his shoulders, and moved it awkwardly to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Rory?"

Rory winced as Christopher dumped her mother unceremoniously onto the family couch, she indicated her departure with one hand as she moved into the dark kitchen.

"Speaking. Who's this?"

'It's Colin."

_Colin? Do I Know a…_

"Colin? Wh-"

"There's been an accident. Logan had to be airlifted to hospital, I think you should be here."

Darkness prickled at the edges of her vision, Colin's voice faded over the roar of horror inside her head, her hands almost dropped the phone. Then clarity set in and Rory didn't question why she was racing to the side of a man who had dumped her over six months ago, or why her heart beat so hard and so painfully she was sure it would give out. She just scribbled down the address of the five star hospital and left. The tears that trickled down her cheeks drying unnoticed on her collar.

Logan's two best friends met her with solemn regard as the elevator doors slid open with a hiss. The aching numbness in her brain turned to anger as Rory noticed them standing there, barely a scratch between them, a living breathing reminder of Logan, of Logan who at this moment for all she knew not living or breathing.

"Idiots!" She reamed as soon as she stepped through the doors. The smattering of loitering patients, doctors and nurses started at her elevated voice, and she caught the glares of those closest. She didn't give a damn. Finn and Colin flinched at the sound of her anger.

"Morons! Imbeciles! Cavemen! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Finn opened his mouth to reply, but Rory rounded on him furiously, her blue eyes hardening into chips of ice as she yelled.

"What the hell where you thinking? Letting him do that-that stupid Life and Death Brigade stunt. What where you thinking doing it yourselves? Logan could be dying in there! He's in hospital, and for what?! Some stupid attention grabbing, moronic death glide and some Neanderthal party? He has a future! He had a future…"

She paused and felt tears returning, burning at her corneas. Finn seemed to be gaping at her in object horror; Colin at least had the grace to hang his head.

"Does he still have a future?" She asked desperately, hysteria creeping into her tone. "I mean… what's wrong with him? W-will he be ok? Is he…"

Her cry sounded to her own ears like an animal in pain, a howl of agony that didn't exist in the physical. She felt her knees buckle, and with a cry she felt herself fall, her legs giving out underneath her. For a second she let herself fall, through the blackness and the misery of her ignorance. Then two pairs of strong hands grabbed at her shoulders, pulling her own soft body against there strong able ones. Colin and Finn sandwiched Rory between them, each boy offering himself as a crutch. Rory hung to them; her soft sobs muffled further by Finn's suit jacket.

"I'm sorry, Love."

Rory had never heard Finn so serious, the remorse in the older boys tone extinguished her rage, clarified her grief. The sharp pains of fury left her heart, leaving her flat and cool. Numbness and disbelief set back in and gingerly she pulled away from the two young men and lowered herself into one of the hard hospital seats.

"Do You…" She paused, softly exhaling. "Do you guys know what's wrong?"

Colin slumped down into the seat on her left, Finn on her right. The former shook his head soberly.

"The doctors won't tell us with out us being family…"

"And you've told his family right?"

Colin nodded. Awkwardly her leant over and patted Rory on the shoulder, she glared at him and he withdrew nervously.

"Sorry."

"When are his parents arriving?"

Finn rolled his eyes and made a face.

"Mrs Huntzberger is in communicado in Arizona. She checked herself into a relaxation tank as soon as she heard."

Rory made a sharp noise, which seemed to be a mix of a snort of disbelief and a bark and indignation.

"And Mitchum?"

"The Dark Lord? He got the memo, but we haven't heard anything back."

Rory sighed resignedly. She wasn't sure what was worse, that Logan would have to wake up without his family around him, or that the devil himself would actually pull through and she would have to be in his company.

Colin grinned reassuringly. "I would worry about it, Honor's the only one he'll care about. She was on her honeymoon by the way, she's trying to get a flight home as we speak."

"How long?"

"Probably not for at least twelve hours or so… she's doing her best."

Rory glanced distractedly towards the closed door that Finn and Colin where guarding, suddenly she itched to go and sit beside the broken blonde boy behind them, hold her ex-boyfriends hand and make sure he didn't wake up alone. Finn followed her gaze and gave her a significant look, Rory shifted uncomfortably as Finn leant to tap Colin on the shoulder.

"Let's let the girl go sit with the human avalanche. She'll probably want some time alone with him."

Colin looked at her with understanding and Rory felt herself hitch with self-loathing. How pathetic was she, running to the side of a man who had dumped her with out a single thought.

"I'm fine." She said, too quickly. Finn and Colin exchanged glances over her head. She gave them both dirty looks. "I am. I'm just confused; I don't even really know what I'm doing here. Logan and I broke up over six months ago. We're done, finito, adios. Bed standing and hospital visiting isn't in my relationship job description anymore."

Finn stood up suddenly, the boy began to pace the hospital corridor in agitation. Out of the corner of her eye Rory saw Colin roll his eyes at his friends dramatics.

"The man misses you, Sweetheart. Like a king misses his Queen, like a dog misses his bone, like a-"

"Finn" Colin hissed. "Do you think you could tone it down a little? We want Rory to stay. Not to run in the opposite direction."

"Hey" Finn raised his hands defensively. "You heard him, I heard him and it sure wasn't Ace Rimmer he was gabbling about, half high on morphine and blood loss."

"It could have been. He loves Red Dwarf."

Colin and Finn's words scattered around her mind, trying to place themselves in order and into meaning. Where they true? Did Finn know what he was talking about? Rory shook her head to clear it, dwelling on what could be with Logan was stupid, he had made him self perfectly clear when it came to their relationship, or lack there of.

Slowly she stood.

"I'll go in there, but afterwards I'm going to leave. It's not my place to be here."

Finn opened him mouth to argue, but Colin nodded and roughly pulled his friends onto the seat next to him.

"He's in there. The doctor's still in there too, if you can get any information out of the jerk."

Rory nodded her consent wordlessly and stepped towards the door.

"And Rory…"

She paused and looked at Colin expectantly. "Yes?"

"Be prepared. He's pretty messed up at the moment."

The brunette swallowed, an audible hitch in her gathered demeanor.

"Thanks for the warning."

The flimsy pine door opened with a light push of her fingertips, and Rory stepped forward to face her past. Or what was left of it anyway.

For a full horrible moment when she stepped into his sterile hospital room, Rory was sure Logan was dead. He lay still and pale, so seemingly fragile against the heaped pillows that supported his head and the stiff sheets that bound him to the bed. Only the steady beep of his heart machine announced that the man in the bed before it wasn't in fact a corpse. Rory crept into the room like her very existence in it would make the wonderful machine that told her he was alive stop beeping, her shoes scuffing against the floor as she edged towards the bed. She started with a soft cry as the doctor in his white coat came out of the bathroom, the elderly man flinching as he too started in shock.

"Excuse me?"

Rory flushed, and extended a hand to the doctor.

"I'm Rory Gilmore. Logan's gi-friend."

The doctor glared at her suspiciously, limply accepting the handshake.

"Dr Schultz. Logan's doctor."

Rory glanced at Logan's broken body helplessly.

"C-could you tell me how he is? Is he ok? Is he _going _to be ok."

Dr Schultz frowned disapprovingly at her, and Rory felt herself shrink under his glare.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

For the umpteenth time that day Rory felt tears gather in her eyes.

"Please."

She felt the doctors glare soften a little, and the man looked at her pityingly.

"I'm sorry I really can't. Hospital policy."

Dr Schultz shifted in discomfort.

"You may stay with him for a while, if you want."

Rory nodded, wincing as her voice came out raw and scratchy as if she had been crying for hours instead of just yelling at Finn and Colin. "I do."

Rory nodded at the doctor in thanks as he quietly slipped out the door. For a few seconds she couldn't move, her eyes locked on the closed lids of a boy who had once been the salvation and the demolisher of her heart. Softly she slipped into the chair pulled close to his bed, she slipped her hand into his limp one, entwining her fingers around his. With her free hand she reached up and thumbed away one of the escaping locks of his usually impeccably kept hair, her hand softly tracing its way down along his jaw line and through the five o'clock shadow that had invaded his chin.

"You're an idiot." She told him softly, the hand entwined in his gently stroking the joint of his thumb. "You are just so stupid sometimes. Why did you have to jump out of a plane anyway? I mean, you go to Yale and any idiot can figure out plane plus alcohol plus gravity is a bad combination. But no, you jumped out of a plane and you brought me back here to look after you as per usual, and because I couldn't say no, and because you're you, now I'm…"

She sniffled and tilted her head back, stubbornly refusing to let her tears escape.

"I'm so lost. I'm over you Logan, I've got my control back, I was moving on and then you pull something like this and I'm hurtling backwards."

More then anything she wanted to kiss him. To smooth his lips under her own, to taste his breathe again, to be with him like she used to be with him, so complete, so whole. She wanted to kiss him, because loving Logan had been so incredibly simple, so completely black and white; and not being with him was a thousand shades of grey and messier then she could have ever anticipated. She leant against his shoulder, burying her face in his forearm. For a moment she allowed herself to get lost in the familiar sensation of her ex-boyfriend.

"I miss you too." She said so softly that if he had been awake Logan would have had trouble hearing it. "All the time. Sorry about that."

For thirty minutes she lay there, listening to the steady rhythm of Logan's heart beat. When finally she rose, she stared at him one last time, pulling her hand from his grasp. With resignation Rory looked at the blonde boy, propped up like a doll on a castle of pillows, and realized that she wouldn't be leaving. Not tonight, not for a long time.

"Shut up" She snapped as she fell into the seat next to Colin.

The older boy just smirked.


	2. Pick Up The Phone

_Yay! Second installment! I'm glad everybody liked the first one and it's so nice to hear from all those lovely rogan shippers out there! Nice to know I'm not alone :). _

_For those who enquired about beta-ing. This story will probably end up getting beta-ed, just not until it's complete. It may sound weird, but I prefer it that way. Once I'm finito on I'll post a beta-ed version of my LJ. So keep up those fan-tabulous reviews and enjoy! _

She woke up from a dream of soft lips, blonde hair and gabbled voices.

"See that's the thing! Logan has no family! He has us and that pretty dark haired Shelia sleeping in the chair over there. We _are_ his family!"

Finn's voice began to unravel the cocoon of sleep that had wound itself around her. Slowly she wrenched open her heavy eyelids, and glanced around the room with a groan. Neither Finn nor the nurse he was animatedly arguing with noticed her wake.

"I'm sorry sir, but we really can't tell you anything specific."

Rory sat up and Finn glanced at her in surprise. With one last filthy look at the nurse, who scuttled fearfully back to her station, Finn strode quickly towards her.

"And she wakes!"

Rory closed her eyes again, counting to five before taking a breath and opening them again. Her head throbbed like she had been doing tequila shots all night and right now she didn't know how well she could handle Finn, lovable as he was.

"Urrgh…"

The tall boy grinned at her and passed her a grande cup of thick, dark coffee that smelt like it could strip paint. Rory took a sip and winced.

"This is awful! Where did you find this, the ninth circle?"

"The hospital cafeteria."

"Oh, well close enough."

Finn sat down next to her, and for a moment the two young adults sat in silence as Rory drank her coffee. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Finn shift uncomfortably.

"So where's Colin?"

Finn turned and looked at her apologetically.

"He had classes."

Rory rolled her eyes in disbelief. _Typical_.

"On the day his best friend is lying unconscious in a hospital bed?"

"I'm sorry Love," Finn said, and suddenly Rory scoffed as she recognized the guilty look in Finn's own eyes.

"You too? The King of Cretins and the Saint of Slackers?"

Finn shrugged nervously.

"If I miss one more economy class I'll automatically fail, and if I fail my economy class I won't graduate and if I don't graduate dear old daddy will cut dear young Finny off from his amble sums of money."

"And Colin?"

"Pretty much the same gig. Can't you be a sweetheart and sit by Logan for a few hours. Make sure he doesn't hemorrhage or suddenly wake up as a teetotaler."

Rory felt her top lip curl. So that was why Colin had called her.

"I don't believe this. That's why I'm here isn't it?" She said angrily. "Good old Rory Gilmore'll look after your boy. I'm such a sucker! I thought I was here because Logan actually wanted me to be here."

Finn stood up quickly, his eyes widening fearfully as he stepped away. Rory glared and stood up too.

"It wasn't like that Love…"

"It was exactly like that."

"No." Finn cried out urgently. "Pet, Logan would want you to be here. He'll want to see you when he wakes up."

"The fact it fit in conveniently with your plans was just a nice little coincidence. Right?" Rory chastised scathingly, but as quickly as it had came she felt her anger deflating. She couldn't exactly hate him as much as she'd like too for wanting Logan to be looked after, even if he and Colin had manipulated her in the process. For Finn and Logan and Colin, they where _it_ for each other in a world of false smiles and predetermined destinies, so Rory couldn't blame Finn for using any way necessary to create piece of mind.

"You could have just asked." She said finally, with an air of resignation. "I still would have come, you know that."

"And we did and you did." Finn gave her a crooked smile and patted her affectionately on her head. "Everything I said was level. We wouldn't stump you like that Reporter Girl."

Rory shook her head in disbelief, but she smiled at Finn.

"So I don't suppose you got anything out of that nurse?"

"Nothing." Finn whined dramatically. "And I even offered her my fabulous self. Who knew any woman could resist such a offer."

Rory sniggered and Finn winked at her.

"Admit it Gilmore. Everyone wants a little bit of Finn."

With a roll of her eyes the brunette turned away and fell back into her seat with a huff.

"How long until you have to go?" She asked.

Finn's eyes flicked around the room nervously, and Rory raised her eyebrows to the heavens. _Of course._

"Fine. Whatever."

Finn smiled at her brightly and blew her a kiss. Rory scowled darkly, but couldn't stop her mouth turning up into a smile.

"Be good while I'm gone. Ring as soon as there's change."

He paused as he grabbed his bag and looked at her hesitantly for a moment. "Will you be ok?"

"I'll be fine" Rory said hurriedly, shooing him with her hands. Finn shrugged and turned away to hurry down the hall. Rory sighed softly as she watched him go, draining the last drops of coffee from her cup.

_I'll be fine._

_--_

She was going insane. Literally going 'writing on the wall, all work and no play, one flew over the cuckoos nest' crazy. She hadn't seen Finn or Colin or anyone else for that matter for hours, and she strongly suspected the two boys had gone for a drink secure in the knowledge their best friend was safe under the watchful eye of his sucker ex-girlfriend. Logan was fine, or the same anyway, not that she would be able to tell if he wasn't. She had drifted in and out of his room about five times in the last three hours never staying more then five minutes. Seeing Logan lying there was too out of control, such a lively person so lifeless made her feel so deflated and useless, until she could barely look at him. So for the most part of her own personal hell she had been sitting in the little sterile corridor on a hard plastic chair waiting for somebody to tell her what to do. She wanted to look after him, knew that was what she was here for, what Finn and Colin had tricked her here to do. She just didn't know how.

Her phone shocked her out of her reverie.

With a glance at its screen she debated whether she was stable enough at this point to accept a call from the only person on god's green earth who was crazier then her at this moment. She pressed the green button and closed her eyes, leaning back into her seat as Paris's voice emanated into her head.

"Rory?"

"What is it Paris?"

"Larry Summers is right, Rory! Our university system is crumbling, did you know that?"

Rory sighed, old tears burning in her eyes. Paris's voice sounded so far away, so unreachable, in a state of mind Rory could imagine ever reaching again.

"Paris-"

"I just found out my microbiology final is an open book exam. Can you believe that? I mean, why have us take the test at all? Why not just have our professors take it for us? Or better yet, they could just hand us our diplomas the moment we step on campus freshman year, along with some government cheese, a bong, and a t-shirt that says 'Hard Work is for Suckers'."

Listening to Paris rant was somehow comforting in its familiarity and Rory smiled.

"Paris." She said calmly. "I'm in hospital."

"What?"

"With Logan."

There was a long, heavy silence as Rory waited for her almost, kinda best friend to digest her information.

"Huntzberger?" Paris asked. "Mr. 'Dump you through my sister because I'm too much of a jackass coward to do it properly'?"

"And I believe that is his full name."

The blonde ignored her and Rory realized that the tears which had been threatening to fall where now trickling down her cheeks, pooling at the corners of her mouth and disappearing into her collar. She attempted futilely to stem the flow with one hand, but Paris's voice distracted her.

"Mr. 'Too rich and entitled to think about anything else but getting drunk, high and laid.'"

"Paris-"

"Mr. 'Break your heart into a thousand pieces'?"

Rory rose an eyebrow.

"Actually I think its Mr. 'Comatose in a hospital bed after jumping eleven stories from an cliff in Costa Rica' now."

There was another pregnant pause, and Rory wiped away another escaping tear.

"Wow." Paris said finally, her voice breathless. "Are you- I mean, is he ok?"

"I don't know." Rory told Paris, ignoring the peeked note of desperation in her own voice. "They won't tell me anything because I'm not family and-"

"Is he breathing on his own?"

Rory paused at the question and a new wave of clarity and relief washed over her. Of course in her hysteria she would forget one of her closest friends was pre-med. Paris could help. That was what Paris did.

"I don't know." She answered honestly, "I think so."

"How's his pallor? Is he peaked? Was there internal bleeding?"

"I told you." Rory said impatiently. "The nurses won't tell me anything."

She glanced into Logan's room, noting the chart hanging from his bed and the absence of doctors.

"Maybe I could read his chart to you-"

"Don't bother." Paris interrupted bitterly. "I don't know how to read charts yet. I can tell you everything you want to know about the difference between recessive and dominant eye color genes in fruit flies, but God forbid I learn how to read a chart before I'm a fourth year surgical resident."

Rory tossed her head in irritation, her hopes again dashed.

"Damn it."

There was a rustle of paper on the other side and Rory felt, as it often was with Paris, rather then heard her friends' sympathy.

"What hospital is it?" Paris asked suddenly.

"Columbia Presbyterian, Manhattan."

"Who's the attending?"

Rory shook her head silently and closed her eyes, exhaustion relinquishing itself upon her and reminding her that save for her catnap hours earlier she hadn't slept in forty-eight hours.

"Paris is doesn't matter."

On the other side of the phone Paris snorted in exasperation.

"Just tell me."

"Dr Schultz"

"I'll call you back."

"_Paris!"_

"I'll call you back."

Rory rolled her eyes wearily as Paris disconnected. She considered just throwing her phone against the wall, sparing herself from dealing with Paris' eccentricities. Instead she stuffed it back into her pocket with a scowl.

"_There's no need to use language like- excuse me!"_

Rory turned suddenly as the sound of agitation wafted from the nurses' station. Her irritation dissipated as she watched Logan's doctor accept the phone, and she grinned. It took almost fifteen seconds for Dr Schultz's Hippocratic oath to disappear into a puff of Paris induced terror.

"Rory?"

Rory picked up on the first ring of her phone.

"Did he say anything?"

"Ok, here's the deal." Paris began, her voice still and unemotional as if she where simply reciting an answer for a teacher. "He was bleeding internally when they brought him in and they were worried about the oxygen levels in his blood, but he's stabilized now and they're back up to normal so that's no longer a concern. He was also running a high fever, so they put him on mondo doses of intravenous antibiotics. He has a partially collapsed lung –"

Rory felt her own lungs contract as the gravity of Logan's situation suddenly came crashing down on her shoulders with one crushing blow.

"Oh my god!" She sobbed. If Paris heard her, the blonde didn't hesitate.

"Six broken ribs, a broken ankle, torn cartilage in his knees and a severe concussion. He had surgery for the lung and that went well. They did a thoracoscopy, which is a couple of small incisions in the chest. Then they put a tube into the lung to drain the fluid into the pleural space so the lung can re-expand. That's way less invasive than a thoracotomy which is a similar operation, but for that one they have to butterfly you like a shrimp. And that's it."

Rory cradled her head in one hand as medical jargon ran rampant through her mind. _Thoracoscopy? Bleeding Internally? Collapsed Lung! _

"I don't understand." She mumbled tearfully, her phone pressed painfully against her skull. "What does that mean? Is he going to be ok?"

"It means he's out of immediate danger. He's expected to make a full recovery."

_Thank you, god. _ Rory exhaled heavily in relief.

"He's a very lucky guy." Paris continued unabated. "He's lucky he's not rice pudding right now, he could have died."

There was a pause as Paris waited for her friend to answer. "Those guys are idiots."

Rory grunted in agreement, but her head felt far away as relief clouded her mind.

"They really are. Thank you so much Paris."

"Don't worry about it, it was fun."

There was a moment of awkward hesitation as Rory waited for Paris to bring up the inevitable. She listened to Paris sigh irritably and leant against the white hospital wall.

"Rory?"

"Yes, Paris?"

"Are you ok?"

Rory smiled slightly.

"I'm fine Paris."

"Are you sure?"

"_Yes, _Paris."

There was another gaping hole in the conversation as Rory waited patiently for Paris to stumble over the point.

"Rory?"

"Yes, Paris?"

There was another hesitation, then:

"What are you doing there? You're not Logan's girlfriend."

Rory bit her lip to quell the involuntary stab of anguish in her abdomen. She hung her head as she let herself absorb Paris' words. The girl was right, she shouldn't be here.

"Colin and Finn rang me up. I couldn't say no."

"Of course you couldn't." Paris countered despairingly. "You're the freaking sixth Teletubbie. But it's been like twelve hours since Logan was admitted, and I'm willing to bet my trust fund that you haven't left the hospital."

Rory couldn't say anything to that, and Paris took her silence as confirmation.

"He dumped you through his sister, Gilmore. Have some perspective."

"Thank you, Paris." Rory snapped through gritted teeth. "Because I'd completely forgotten that humiliating episode in the Rory Gilmore show."

"You were completely wrecked." Paris reminded her, her voice rising in her usual caliber to win their argument. "Living with you after the break up was like watching a never ending Grey's Anatomy episode, and then there was the whole Jess affair…"

"I get it." Rory cut her off as she felt her heart twist painfully. She softened as she heard her own harshness. "I get it, Paris. I just don't want him to wake up alone."

"Then call Beavis and Butthead and drag your ass home."

"Paris." Rory said softly. "This is just something I have to do. You know?"

"I know." Paris groaned. "Just… don't let your heart get trampled on the way out. It's a bad, bad world for pansies like you, Gilmore. "

"I know." Rory smiled sadly. "I've dated before. Goodbye Paris."

Paris made an annoyed sound at the back of her throat.

"Bye Rory."

Rory disconnected her cell with a click and stood, stretching out her stiff legs. Absently she wandered into Logan's Spartan hospital room and plonked her ass into the seat next to the bed.

"I hope you know what you got me into Mister." She told the unconscious blond dryly. "Because I sure don't"

--

"Girl Child! Offspring! Fruit of my Loins!"

Rory exhaled in relief as her mothers voice bounced across the phone lines.

"Hey mum. Feeling better?"

Lorelai groaned spectacularly, and Rory pictured her hung-over mother with a grin.

"Cruel child! For your information, No. As in no, no, no, no tequila ever."

"Until the next time right?"

"I'm serious!"

"Yeah, I bet." Rory replied snidely. "As a failed liver."

Lorelai gave a scandalized gasp. "Mean!"

"Sorry." Rory muttered apologetically, regretting her tone. She knew her mother probably hadn't taken it seriously but still… Lorelai sighed softly.

"Chris told me you'd gone to be with Logan… in hospital. Care to explain?"

She didn't realize she hadn't responded until Lorelai cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Hon…"

"I know what I'm doing." Rory snapped quickly, and for the second time in as many minutes she regretted her words as her mother's disbelieving pause stretched between them.

"Ok." She muttered hollowly. "That was a lie."

"I thought it might have been."

"I have _no_ idea what I'm doing."

Rory glanced absently towards Logan's room as if worried that even in his comatose state he could hear the hesitation in her voice.

"So, what happened?" Lorelai asked gingerly. Rory rolled her eyes.

"He jumped off a cliff."

"Stupid!"

"I know. He was too drunk to open his parachute in time and got some pretty serious internal injuries. Plus a collapsed lung, broken ribs, broken ankle and a whole host of nasty scratches and bruises."

Lorelai squeaked. "Really stupid!"

"That has occurred to me more then once in the last twelve hours."

"How do you know all this stuff anyway? Don't hospitals have that pesky privacy clause?"

Despite herself, Rory couldn't help but grin in pride.

"Paris."

"Bless her. That girl comes through in the weirdest ways."

"I'm with you on so many levels. I was completely freaking out."

There was another protracted moment as Lorelai tried to place her next words delicately.

"How is he?"

_Not well. Alive. Perfect. _Rory wasn't sure how to answer her mother's question.

"It looks like he'll be ok." She said finally, evading the other questions that lingered not so subtly in Lorelai's.

"And you… you're?"

"Able to use all my appendages, so I'm one upping Logan."

"That wasn't what I meant."

Rory pursed her lips and leant back into her seat.

'I miss him." She admitted with pseudo calm. "And it sucks. He left me! He dumped me like least weeks stale pizza, and I'm here at his hospital bed waiting for him to wake up and validate the fact I've been sitting here for the last twelve hours waiting for him to wake up and validate a point."

There was a beat and then Lorelai sighed emphatically.

"I'm sorry kid."

"I don't understand." Rory muttered. "I don't understand how I can still feel like this when he doesn't feel _anything_ for me."

"I'm sure that's not true Babe." Lorelai's voice was soft, and suddenly Rory hated the pity in her words. Like she was a child with her first boyfriend, thinking she knew all there was of love and hate.

"It is." She replied flatly, one hand tangling in her hair. With a wince she forced her fingers through. "He never loved me like I loved him, and that is the absolute truth."

"I admit I didn't know Logan so well…" Lorelai began tentatively. Rory snorted in agreement. "I was pretty… absent for most of your relationship."

Rory thought that was a fairy elusive way to refer to their period of estrangement. She didn't comment, but judging by the soft, nervous trill of her mothers' chuckle, she agreed.

"I saw you guys together though. I saw the way you talked about him, and the gifts he gave you and the secret smiles and cute preadolescent silliness. I think the boy had it pretty bad."

Rory let Lorelai's words pass through her, a guilty comfort like a well-worn security blanket. Soft, warm but insubstantial in reality. She wondered if her mother knew just how much she wanted to believe that, that her own affection had been returned in kind and she hadn't been living in a fools paradise.

"I want to have more of a reason to be here, then the fact I feel like I can't leave." She admitted. "But every time I turn to go, I feel like I'm walking out of his life again, and it's stupid because he probably doesn't even want me in his life and as soon as he wakes up he'll probably oh-so politely tell me so, but I still don't want to leave. Because I don't want to go back to missing him, I want to be over him and what I'm doing isn't working. So I'm here."

Lorelai sighed and Rory heard a shuffle of feet and a thump of something falling. Couch springs squeaked as her mother sat down.

"I want you to be happy Babe…"

She smiled softly. "I am. I'm just all mixey at the moment, but I'll figure it out."

"You wouldn't be Rory if you didn't."

Rory looked up as the door of Logan's hospital room opened and closed, a tall, hurried nurse walking out and towards her.

"Rory? Are you Rory?"

Rory stood up from her seat and nodded. Forgotten, her cell was abandoned on the seat next to her. "That's me. Is Lo…"

'Mr. Huntzberger is gaining consciousness, you can see him if you'd like."

Rory exhaled in a mixture of relief and thinly concealed terror, with an affirming nod at the nurse she reclaimed her phone and pressed it against her ear.

" Mum, Logan's woken up."

"I heard." Lorelai replied. "You're going to be fine right? I don't have to worry about you?"

Rory grinned and ducked her head. "Worry not, mother dearest."

"I can't help it, you're worrisome my child."

"Are you stalling me?"

Lorelai laughed. "You're so suspicious. I worry about that too."

Rory snorted. "I'll call you later. I have to go."

"Rory…"

Rory sniffed irritably at the slightly condescending tone in her mother's voice.

"I'll be fine." She said with conviction. "I _will_ be."

Her mother groaned wearily. "Bye Kid."

"Bye Mum."

--

Rory disconnected with a tired sigh, the burgeoning effects of a headache developing in her temples. Now that a living-breathing ex-boyfriend with all his conscious bodily functions inhabited it the entrance to Logan's room suddenly seemed unbelievably intimidating. Slowly she got up to go to door, yet hesitated as she reached to push it open. It suddenly seemed unthinkable for her to be here, for her to have stayed. Why had she? Why had she even believed it had been appropriate? Her stomach lurched as she faced going in and watching him loose face in disappointment, apathy or even distaste when he saw her. She couldn't face that, she wasn't strong enough to walk into that room and have her heart stomped on _again_.

But she was. That was the point.

She was strong enough to face her ex-boyfriend because regardless of what or whom he had done, Logan still didn't deserve to wake up alone. Regardless of their past and even more so their future, Rory knew she was the only one he had.

So she ripped the band-aid off and pushed the door open, tentatively walking past its threshold and into the cool white light of the hospital room.

Logan was turned away, his attention locked on the expanse of blue outside his window. Rory cleared her throat nervously.

"Logan?"

Brown eyes met blue and Rory watched engaged as shock flitted over Logan's features. For a moment his mouth formed a perfect 'o' of surprise then it stretched pleasantly upwards and Rory realized with a jolt that he was smiling at her.

"Ace!"

In that moment her heart was glad she'd came.


	3. Are You Nervous?

AN: Um… Where have all the Sophie's gone? It's a pretty dismal time for R/L shippers. I mean, there have been more Trory fic lately and lets be honest… it's not even a canon ship. So follows the next installment of B+H, I was going to wait another few days but the situation on sucks so much that I'm caving. I hope you enjoy it, finally some Logan/Rory interaction.

Incase you haven't noticed, every chapter is named after one of my favorite songs. A cookie for the person who can tell me the band who sings this chapters namesake.

Also I have a question. Does anybody know why the R/L ship is named 'Sophie'?

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

He grinned at her as she hovered at the entrance of the room, the smile reaching up to crinkle the corners of his dark eyes. Rory smiled softly back at him, nervously nibbling on her bottom lip as she waited for the silence to be broken.

They both waited motionlessly for the stalemate to shatter and under semi-lowered lashes she studied him, reveling in his animation. He was still awfully pale, a deathly, off pallor that still scared her despite the fact he was awake; dark circles had tattooed themselves under his eyes and he had lost weight from his trim body he couldn't afford to loose. He looked like crap, in a word, but if nothing else he was definitely alive. Already Rory could see the colour begin to return to his lips and under layers of fatigue and pain a familiar twinkle had returned in his eyes.

"Hey…" Logan began tentatively, and with little surprise Rory recognized actual nervousness in his movements. "You're here."

"Yep."

"And this isn't some nice morphine induced hallucination?"

Rory giggled, her laughter high and shrill. "Nope. I'm the genuine article."

"Always." There was an awkward pause as Logan's eyes followed the space between her and his bed. "Are you just going to stand there? I don't bite you know."

Rory stepped forward quickly, pulling one of the tacky hospital chairs next to the bed. She slumped in it with a soft moan of relief.

"Hospitals suck."

"I am so there with you Ace."

Her eyes lingered a moment too long on the wires and machines they had attached him to, and when her own blue eyes slid to meet his dark ones Rory flushed in embarrassment. Logan's gaze darted away, and his own embarrassment colored his cheeks. Rory stared at him, unsure of how to act. The sheepishness in his posture, his shame as he glanced at the things tying him to his bed, weak, alone, Rory had a feeling she was seeing Logan Huntzberger in a rare moment of actual vulnerability. She did a mental step back and smiled at him softly.

"So?" Her lips twisted into a smirk. "Fallen off any good cliffs lately?"

Logan reached for Rory's hand, and pressed it against his chest. Amongst his slightly-too weak-for-comfort grip she felt his heart beat. His own mouth twisted into a half smile.

"Rory…" Rory swallowed, uncomfortable with the thick tension between them. Gently she pulled herself out of his grip, folding her hands in her lap. "I-I'm sorry about all this."

"It's not your fault."

He grimaced at her theatrically.

"It was."

"Yeah." She admitted coyly. "Maybe a little."

He looked at her intently, and Rory shook off the feeling he was studying her for a reaction, or perhaps waiting for her to say more. She knew that he wanted her to bring up the obvious, and she also knew he probably didn't want to bring it up himself. Rory reached absently for her temples, the beginning of a headache still lingered there and was easier to deal with then the big, fat elephant in the room.

She opened her mouth but he cut her off.

"I didn't expect you to be here."

Rory swallowed audibly and shifted so that she had furthered herself from him. She ducked her head sheepishly, unwilling to let Logan see the hurt which had gathered in her eyes. She knew that she was probably misinterpreting his words, but they still felt like a slap in the face.

"Colin rang."

"I'm not sorry you're here Ace. Just surprised."

She looked up at him cautiously, trying to scope out his thoughts by the smooth features of his expression. Rory cursed Logan's uncanny ability to hide his emotions; he may as well have been made of marble. She shrugged with feigned apathy.

"It wasn't a big deal."

"It must have been a little bit of a deal. I mean you had to come all the way to Manhattan."

"You're right." She commented dryly. "I'm heaven bound. An angel. A dove. Worship me unworthy mortal."

Logan made a face and poked her childishly in the rib. He cackled loudly when she pouted at him prettily.

"You think you're so cute don't you."

"I am undeniably adorable, yes."

He grinned obnoxiously at her, and Rory felt her stomach flip flop at the affection in her ex boyfriends gaze. She suddenly felt very warm.

"It's good to see you Ace."

Even if it only lasted a minute, Rory thought that this moment that she spent staring into Logan's eyes, clouded with some ineffable emotion, might have been a perfect one. She wanted to lean forward and close the gap between them, press her lips against his and taste him again. Instead she smiled shyly and slipped her hand back into his.

"I know. Me too."

Logan squeezed her hand and Rory leaned against the bed, her hair brushing against his knuckles. She traced circles, stars and love hearts on the metal frame of the bed, her eyes averted from his. They sat there silently, hands entwined, each alone in their thoughts.

Logan was first to break the comfortable silence.

"So where are my better halves? They send me off a cliff and don't even bother to wake me up when I land. Typical."

Rory brought her hand to her forehand with a smack, in the process ripping it from Logan's. She groaned.

"Damn it. I told them I'd ring."

She pushed herself from her chair and clambered to her clutch, pulling out her cell.

"I mean I was so caught up in you waking up and I didn't want you to be alone, so it completely slipped my mind. And of course I haven't seen the idiots since this morning, when Finn gave me coffee and raced off to his, and I quote, 'class'."

Logan raised his eyebrow in disbelief.

"Uh… Finn? Class?"

"I know!" Rory waved her phone in the air in emphasis. "Does not compute with any previous information I have on Finn and Colin either. But no, off they go on the day their best-est buddy falls off a cliff. But I have to ring them right? Because they rang me when…"

She trailed off as her eyes fell on Logan's amused expression, and slowly her manic phone hand lowered itself to her side.

"You don't have to call them." He told her gently. She shook her head sheepishly and shrugged.

"I know, but I'm gonna anyway."

She exhaled wearily and slumped back into her chair, her phone abandoned in her lap. Logan raised his hand nervously; tentatively he pushed a strand of hair from her face.

"You look tired." He said. Rory rubbed her temples tiredly and nodded.

"It's been a long forty eight hours."

For the first time in the last twelve hours of madness, Rory registered her physical state. She was beyond tired, beyond exhausted, for the past two days she had given everything she had to looking after her loved ones. She'd been damage control for her mother, Logan, Lane, her father, Colin and Finn and she could feel the evidence in her stiff, weighted limbs. She was still dressed in the dress she had worn to Lane's wedding; her coat and shoes had been abandoned outside. The make up that had been painstakingly applied before the wedding was smudged and dripping, smudged mascara framing red eyes as a tribute to her tears. Her lips had been bitten raw in the wait for Logan to gain consciousness, her hair ruffled from her hands running through it in agitation.

She was a mess. The sum of hours of family, fear, love, hate, alcohol and hospital waiting rooms. Suddenly Rory wished she had thought to run a brush through her hair before being the first thing Logan woke up to.

"I'm sorry." She said apologetically. "I-I came straight from Lane's wedding so I know I'm a bit of a mess."

Logan's eyebrows shot up towards his hairline.

"Are you apologizing? Really?"

"Yes."

"Stop it." Logan tucked the wayward hair behind Rory's ear and smiled at her gently.

"You look beautiful."

Rory twisted her face into a mask of obvious disbelief.

"Well I guess every Frankenstein needs his Bride, right?"

Logan laughed, and Rory smiled softly. Her heart had fluttered at her accidental use of them in a couple, despite the fact it had been so trivial. He sobered as he focused on her, his brown eyes hardening seriously as her took her wrist.

"Ace, you should book into a hotel or something. I'll be fine. You on the other hand look like you're going to drop dead with exhaustion. You're no good to me in a hospital bed Ace."

"Bu-"

"I'll be fine!"

"I-"

"Fine!"

Rory poked her tongue out at him.

"I'll just stay until Colin and Finn return. Then I'll scoot into the nearest travel lodge that I can find." She bargained. Logan opened his mouth but she shut him down with a glare and the boy slumped resignedly. "I promise!"

"Fine, but no complaining when they turn up."

Rory's face hardened in irritation and Logan smirked at her.

"And you're calling them now."

"Aw." She pouted. "Won't you miss me?"

"Horribly." He drawled, yet even Rory saw the truth in his eyes. "Call them Ace. Don't make me drag my sorry ass out of this bed and make you."

She grinned and held up her phone obligingly. "I wouldn't want that."

He was quiet as she dutifully punched in Colin's number, and Rory shifted nervously as the fragile compromise of the room stretched and bended under another uncomfortable silence. She wondered briefly if she ever would be completely at ease around him, perhaps they just weren't meant to have that kind of relationship. Of course that raised the question over what kind of relationship they actually _did_ have… Colin's voice pulled her violently from her musings.

"_Hel-God damn it! Finn!"_

Logan snickered softly as Colin's voice traveled from Rory's cell; Rory clumsily covered her own snort with a hasty cough.

"_Right turn! Right turn!"_

There was a muffled growl, a screech of tyres and Rory sighed impatiently.

"_Right, sorry. Hey Rory."_

"Hey Colin. Bad time?"

"Life is pretty much a bad time when I choose to get into a moving vehicle with Finn. Do you need something?"

Rory rolled her eyes at Logan and he smirked at his friend's obnoxiousness.

"Yes actually." She snapped, glaring at the fidgeting blonde. "Logan's woken up. Where the hell are you?"

"_Oh!"_ Colin perked up. _"The Huntz awakes."_

"He does."

"_And you've… talked to him. He's ok and everything."_

Rory glance wearily at Logan, who smile gently and nodded.

"Yeah, I've talked to him and he's fine."

There was a long, pregnant pause and Rory wondered if Colin was waiting for her to say more.

"I mean…" She continued clumsily. "His lung collapsed and he's got some pretty ugly-"

"_Was it a good talk?"_ Colin asked suddenly. Rory did a literal double take and looked at her phone in bemusement.

"Huh?"

"_The talk."_ Colin strung out slowly. _"Was it good? Did you guys talk about… good things?"_

Rory frowned, unsure how to answer.

"It was… fine."

"_Fine? Fine as in…"_

Rory's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "As in fine. What's this about?"

"_Ask her if he kissed her!"_

Rory's frown deepened as she heard Finn in the background. She felt heat rise to her face as she caught Logan's eye.

"_Did he-"_

"No!"

"_I'm just asking." _

"Don't!"

There was another pause and Rory strained to hear the muffled voices on the other end.

"_Can you just give us a moment, Rory?" _

Rory glared heatedly at Logan, who was obviously struggling to withhold his laughter. She pressed the phone against her chest.

"I can't believe you sucked me into this conversation." She hissed. Logan simply smiled and indicated for her to put the phone back on her ear.

"_Rory?"_

"Yes, Colin?" Rory replied through grit teeth.

"_We'll be there soon."_

Rory exhaled in relief. "How soon?"

"_Fifteen minutes. We're just entering Manhattan now."_

"Good." She growled. "Thank all that is holy. Can I hang up now?"

She had never been so happy to hear a dial tone in her life.

--

True to their word Colin and Finn burst through the door fifteen minutes later. Rory and Logan looked up with identical exasperation as Finn all but fell through the threshold and threw himself at Logan's bed.

"My friend!" He cried. "My son! My darling!"

Rory jumped out of the way as Finn threw his arms around Logan's head. Safely landing far from reaching distance, she chuckled heartily as Logan squeaked with indignation.

"Finn! Head!"

"Oh…" Finn released Logan and grimaced sheepishly. "Sorry Mate."

"I'm sure."

On the other side of the room, Colin apparently judged it safe to join the fray and dumped his load of bags into Rory's hands.

"For you." He told her absently, already in the motions of greeting his friend. Rory rolled her eyes.

"For me?"

Realizing that getting any kind of reaction from Colin in the near future was futile, Rory exhaled heavily and retreated to a chair in the far corner of the room, content to watch the three boys happily reacquaint themselves. She felt her own features soften as she watched Logan's light up, revived liveliness in his banter and a strong spark of life in his dark eyes.

"…You made Pat McCormick look like an amateur. I mean even with the blood and the screaming and the incoherent babbling I still give you a ten for sheer flair!"

"…And of course those nasty nurses…"  
"Wouldn't sleep with you?"

"Inconceivable! I ask you! Nether the less they would not release a single crumb of information."  
"We had a plan though…"

There was strong overpowering relief flooding through her veins now, but also to her shame something akin to envy. She wondered if people had seen the same spark of life in Logan's eyes when he had talked with her, the same buzz of youth when he had kissed her or touched her. She felt herself tethered to the scene in front of her, beckoned like a moth to the flame of friendship and love. More then anything, she felt herself being drawn back to Logan.

She coughed loudly and dragged herself from her reverie. In an attempt to distract her wandering mind, Rory looked again at the bags Colin had dumped in her arms. She frowned in bemusement as she recognized her own beat up carry all, which lay amongst a river of what looked like Wal-Mart bags.

"Colin?" She asked, and the boy glanced over from his friend long enough to respond.

"Yes Rory?"

"What's all this?"

Finn and Colin exchanged gleeful glances and grinned at her sheepishly.

"Well, we where at Yale anyway so we stopped by your dorm…"

"Your roommate is a peach by the way. Is she single? Nursing hell things in her belly?"

Rory glared at them both. "Why did you go to my dorm?"

Rory felt Finn's eye roam up and down her body with wiry appraisal. "No offense Love, but I don't think the clothes you're wearing are gonna hold up much longer."

Rory looked down at her stained dress and flushed.

"I-"

"…And we weren't sure how long you'd be staying." Colin continued hurriedly, shooting an ugly look at Finn. "So we picked up enough clothes for… a week?"

Rory was suddenly hyper aware of three sets of eyes studying her for an answer. Nervously her gaze flickered across the room until it met with Logan's. His eyebrow inched up questioningly, and in that moment Rory vowed not to give him an answer.

"Thanks." She croaked finally, feigning indifference towards the sudden tension in the room. "So what's in the other bags?"

Colin picked up one of the plastic bags and passed it to her with a grin.

"We remembered your infamous appetite and thought maybe once you're done gagging on the hospital stuff you'd like some actual food."

"Ooh" Rory squealed, poking her nose into the bag inquisitively. "Thank you!"

Logan frowned and craned his neck, trying to get a better look at the bag.

"Do I get food?"

"No." Rory snapped hugging the bag close to her. "Get your own food."

Colin snatched up one of the smaller bags with a grin and offered it to Logan.

"We did pick you up a little something."

With a flourish and a wicked smile, Colin slowly drew a bottle of bourbon from the plastic bag. The three boys all turned to Rory as her jaw dropped and she gaped at them.

"Um, No?" She spat, grabbing the bottle from Colin's hands.

"Hey…" Logan pouted, his faux disappointment hiding his laughter. "I didn't take your stuff. Be fair Gilmore."

"No!" Rory waved her finger at them vehemently. "No. No. No. No. Bad boys!" She turned on Colin, who took a step back with fear in his eyes. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"It was a joke." Colin told her weakly. "It's just ice tea."

Rory's eyes widened and she turned to Logan and Finn who where chortling wickedly. She rolled her eyes at them both.

"Anyway…" Colin continued, hurrying to direct the conversation into safer areas. "I actually did bring some stuff for Logan that's on the approved Rory list."

He dumped the contents of the bag in his hands into Logan's lap. Rory craned curiously as she watched a trove of DVD's and a personal DVD player tumbled out. Also among the goodies, she noticed, was a copy of Fight Club, a Playboy magazine, a packet of Red Vines and a Game-boy with it's own entourage of games. Logan pulled out the magazine and looked at Colin wirily, his eyebrow raised in bemusement.

"That was Finn's idea." Colin told him dryly. "I told him to forget it, but…"

Finn clapped Logan on the shoulder heartily. Rory stiffened slightly as she saw Logan wince.

"Thank me later, Mate."

"Oh don't worry, I will." Logan told him calmly, a twisted smile across his face, "Don't you worry about _that."_

Rory laughed aloud, and Logan turned to her suddenly, his smile straightening seriously into a straight line.

"And you!" He announced severely. "Don't think I forgot about your promise little Miss Death-Warmed-Over  
She gazed at him with wide eyed innocence.

"What promise?"

Logan glared at her.

"You need sleep. You need food. You need to get out of this hospital for more then five minutes."

Despite her first instincts to stay as close as humanly possible to Logan, Rory could already feel unconsciousness threatening to pull her away. As if in response to Logan's accusing Rory fought back a yawn.

"Fine." She told him reluctantly. "Fine! I'm going! Watch me walk out the door."

She still had to find somewhere to stay, Rory realized with a badly disguised groan. Suddenly the urge to just crash down in a soft bed was overwhelming and Rory fought back another wave of fatigue as she contemplated searching New York for suitable accommodation. Then with another unpleasant dip of her stomach she contemplated what this trip would do to her finances.

She reached for her bags wearily, and addressed the room with a small wave and a tired smile.

"See you boys tomorrow then."

She turned to leave but Colin stopped her, expectantly clearing his throat.

"Rory? You forgot the key."

She frowned, her mind blank.

"The key?"

Colin reached into his coat "Don't worry. The room, it has a lock."

"Oh." Rory said breathlessly, surprised by Colin and Finn's thoughtfulness. "Thanks, but you…"

"It's a four bedroom suite anyway." Finn interjected blithely. "So it's not like you denying us will make any less of a dent in our trust funds."

Rory rolled her eyes, but reached out and accepted the keys to the suite.

"Thank you." She repeated sincerely. "I'll pay you back I sw-"

"Ace!" Logan interrupted her impatiently. "Can you just accept this gift and move your keister. Sleep! Eat! Refrain from dropping dead!"

Rory would have been offended at his dismissal of her, had she not seen the mirth and concern dancing in his eyes. She reached for his hand, gripping it for a second before letting it fall limply out of her hold. She smiled.

"Be well." She told him seriously, dimly aware of Finn and Colin's eyes on her back, but hyper aware of those linked with her own cerulean ones.

"I will be." He promised. "And you… you'll be back?"

Rory heard the soft desperation behind his bravado; the soft, thick trickle of fear or yearning amongst his assurance.

"Until you don't want me to." She told him softly, patting him on the shoulder.

She felt his smile on her back like warm sunlight as she left the room. Rory smiled too as she strolled down the sterile, off white corridors of the hospital, leaving the building with a new sense of hope, renewed happiness that had not existed when she had entered.

--

The bed Colin and Finn had brought for her was the most softest and most compelling Rory had ever fallen into, especially after fifty hours of catnaps and coffee. The Plaza, of course, was beautiful, yet in her fatigue Rory hardly noticed it. She dumped her bags haphazardly in her room, which segregated from a common room or living area that would be able to swallow her Stars Hollow home, and fell into the bed with a moan of relief.

And yet sleep refused to come, despite how heavy her eyelids where. Instead she lay with her eyes closed in a foreign bed, in full consciousness.

He haunted her. Logan with all his Huntzberger glory and destiny, it hadn't saved him from looking so vulnerable in that bed, so… lifeless. Being rich and important, young and seemingly immortal hadn't stopped him from being inevitably so completely the opposite. Him being in that bed, the man who had taught her how to jump into life, had broken her heart and scared her to her bones; and the worst, scariest thing was that she knew all those feelings didn't come from their _history_. No, if Rory was going to be completely honest she knew that those old feelings where returning with a vengeance. In matter of fact, if anything, her heart proved the old proverb true; absence really had made the heart fonder. As she had sat by his bedside, waiting for him to breathe on his own, open his eyes, smile; it had been all Rory could do not to kneel by Logan's bed and pray. Beg someone anyone, beg _Logan_, beg fate to bring him back to her for their second chance.

Yet even as she had battled those impulses she had still been unsure. It was one thing for Rory to love Logan, quite another for her to act on that impulse again. She wouldn't forget the pain of being burnt by him, being dismissed with out thought. She was of course hesitant by nature, a thinker, a debater, a procrastinator, she wasn't the girl who followed her heart, not when he mind served her so well, and Logan was… well Logan was something else entirely, a paradox and an antithesis of her world, the poster child of a world in which she didn't (or perhaps refused) to belong.

Rory didn't know if she could trust Logan with her heart again, she wasn't sure if she was willing to take that step.

Yet, as the minutes lengthened and the arms of the clock ticked away, Rory felt her heartbeat slow and sleep impend. As the world simplified to basic human instinct and Rory balanced on the ledge above sleep, it was hard not to imagine his arms around her, his voice beckoning her home. As sleep finally claimed her, she didn't remember him walking away, but fell into her deep sleep with his name on her lips, and the memory of his body against hers pressing painfully against her heart.


	4. The Matter Of Our Discussion

_AN: Well it's been a while, but here is the next installment of B+H. I'm sorry that it's taken so long, but I've been struck down by a little writers block… this chapter isn't exactly how I would like it, but it is what it is and it's not changing. So I guess enjoy. Further more, congrats to __Xla la loverX and yourlastkiss successfully figured out that the title of the last chapter was a song sung by Rock Kills Kid. An awesome song. Also many thank you to those who explained to me what Sophie refers to. _

Rory woke ten hours later from the deepest sleep she had ever experienced. Again she was pulled from a dream of half memories, half speculation which contained familiar lips pressed hard against her own, her fingers filtering through thick blonde hair. It took a few minutes for the world to penetrate her cocoon of sleep, yet as soon as Rory woke she realized she wasn't in her own bed. The sheets where too fine, the pillows too soft, the sun too effectively filtered out of the room. For a second she lay there, wrapped in silk sheets, her eyes closed as she hoped to god she wouldn't find somebody beside her, then the events of the last couple of days registered and she slowly opened her eyes, taking in the sight of her Plaza room.

She swung her legs tentatively off the side of the bed; her bare feet sinking into plush rose colored carpet and took a moment to study her surroundings for the first time. Colin and Finn had pulled out all stops to be as comfortable as they could during Logan's rehabilitation, and Rory, who despite her heritage was not comfortable with the grandeur that a Gilmore, Hayden or Huntzberger demanded, was awed by the sheer excess of her room. Softly Rory brushed her fingers against the cool golden gildings that decorated the richly patterned walls. She pushed the door of her room open, stepping into the suite which was decorated, if possible, even more extravagantly then her own personal room.

"Woah…"

She breathed. The was a cough from the other side of the room and Rory turned suddenly to greets Finn, sans shirts, who was lounging on the couch and eating Cheetos.

"Impressive isn't it, Love."

Rory raised an eyebrow at him and headed for one of the bags of food Colin had bestowed upon her. With a groan of relief she pulled out a packet of nacho chips and a bottle of ice tea.

"I'm starving!" She announced the room. Finn chortled.

"A shocking development I'm sure."

Rory stuck her tongue out at him derisively and sunk into one of the plush lounge chairs.

"So…" She said thoughtfully. "I've been thinking about the Logan situation."

Finn glanced up at her sharply. "Are you leaving?"

"No!" Rory replied hurriedly. "Not at all! I'm staying… definitely."

Finn relaxed visibly and grinned.

"Good to know."

"Right." Rory said awkwardly. "Actually I was talking about maybe doing shifts or something, so he doesn't get lonely. I mean during the day we can all just hang out in his room, but we should have some sort of shift system so that he isn't alone at night."

Finn stuffed another handful of cheese puffs into his mouth, and stared at her considerately.

"That's actually a good idea."  
"Thank you for that overwhelming shock you have regarding my ingenuity." Rory responded dryly, lazily she chucked a chip at his head. Finn evaded her projectile snack food gracefully, and beamed.

"Unclench Sweetness." He told her cheerfully. "I have all faith in your abilities to outwit the opposite and analogous sex. I'm simply surprised I didn't think of it first."

Rory rolled her eyes.

"Naturally."

"Is that sarcasm I hear in your tone? Darling, you wound me."

"Where is Colin anyway?" Rory asked curiously, glancing around the room. Finn cocked his head towards one of the closed doors.

"We got back a few hours ago."

Rory stared at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? Why aren't you asleep?"

"The Finn doesn't sleep." Finn told her severely. "Not much anyway. I was waiting for you to wake up."

"So Logan's by himself?" Rory asked. She drained the last drops of ice tea from her bottle and discarded her bag of chips. Slowly, her body elongating to stretch out the stiffness of her sleep, Rory rose to her feet. "I might go see how he's doing then."

She began to move towards her room; suddenly aware of the fact she was still wearing her sushi pajamas. Twenty minutes, plus hair and makeup done, later Rory emerged from her room, disgruntled to see Finn still lounging on the couch, exactly as he was twenty minutes previous. She glared at him expectantly and he stared blankly back.

"Are you coming?" She asked, exasperated.

"Nope." Finn replied obliviously. "I'll wait for Colin to wake up. I'm sure Logan will be ok with your gorgeous self to keep him company."

For the second time in the last twenty-four hours Rory became uncomfortable with the impression that Finn and Colin had a hidden agenda when it came to Logan and her relationship. Once again she was overwhelmed with the feeling that they where being not so subtly pushed in the same direction. She shrugged it off with a frown. Why would Finn care if she and Logan worked it out?

"Suit your self." Rory replied with feigned nonchalance. Despite the fact her frown had melted from her face as she strode down the stairs and out onto New York streets, Rory just couldn't shake the feeling that things where already beginning to go horribly wrong in her neatly assembled life. Worse she had an awful feeling she didn't care.

--

"I give up!"

Rory smiled slightly in bemusement as she recognized Logan's sister's voice emanating from her cell.

"Hey Honor."

"Hey Rory." Honor cooed breathlessly. "It's great to hear from you, despite the circumstances. How's my brother?"

"Fine." Rory replied evasively. She felt bad for with holding information, but the situation with Logan was too complicated to go into over the phone. "He's definitely stable, and he woke up hours ago. We'll fill you in when you get here."

Honor sighed wearily. "Man, plane lines suck. I'm on a stop over in Amsterdam of all places so I might not be there until tonight."

"Bummer." Rory said sympathetically. "Don't you Huntzberger's have your own private plane though?"

There was definite strain of bitterness in Honor's usually carefree tone.

"Daddy dearest is using the plane on a business trip. He's in Monaco."

Rory frowned at the front seat of the taxi. "Doesn't Mitchum know Logan's…"

"He does, and he's not coming."

Rory exploded. The stress of the last few days funneled into her reaction to that one seemingly unbelievable situation.

"Are you kidding me? His son is lying broken in a hospital bed! Why the hell isn't he coming?"

Honor snorted nastily. "It's the whole Life and Death Brigade, he's very against it; and yes, before you point out the thing which is glaringly obvious to those of us who do not suffer Mitchum logic, he was in the LDB too, he just thinks that he knew when to grow up and accept responsibility."

Rory scoffed. "Unbelievable."

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too."

Rory rolled her eyes to the upholstered ceiling, before letting them drop back down into her lap.

"So…" There was a pregnant pause between the two women, and Rory had a feeling that she knew what was coming next. "What's going on with you and Logan? Last time I heard you two broke up…"

Rory wrinkled her nose slightly at the brief reminder of thanksgiving.

"We had… I mean we are." There was an awkward pause. "There's nothing going on between me and Logan."

"So why are you there?" Honor asked curiously. "I mean, it's not exactly common behavior to rush to the bedside of your not-boyfriend."

Rory flushed heatedly.

"There was no rushing." She insisted. "I got a call from Colin and I thought I owed Logan that much"

"How long are you staying?"

Rory took a moment to consider Honor's question. It wasn't the first time it had been asked at any rate, in fact it had been asked by Logan, Finn and Colin respectively. She had made sure not to give a specific answer, considering she didn't know what the answer would be. In fact the closest time she had come to answering it was when Logan had asked, and even that had been suitably vague. She had promised she'd stay as long as he had wanted her there, and she meant it, but in the same breathe it was wise to keep her card close to her chest when she waded back into the proverbial piranha filled pool.

"As long as needed." She evaded, and exhaled in relief as Honor let it go. On the other side of the line Rory heard the screech of a crackling mechanical voice, and the muffled sounds of people moving.

"Damn it." Honor muttered irritably. "That's my flight, Rory I have to go."

"I'll see you soon."

"Rory…" Rory's forehead wrinkled at the tension in Honor's voice. "Rory, I'm really glad you're here for Logan." Rory opened her mouth to say something, but Honor had obviously anticipated being interrupted and continued stronger. "…and I know you might not want to, or be ready to, hear this but he really missed you."

"I missed him too." Rory replied quietly.

"That's good to know. Adieu Rory, see you in a few."

Rory stared at her phone for a moment, as if it where possible for it to physically jump from her hand and bite her. She stuffed it into her bag with a growl, ignoring the strange looks the cab driver was giving her and stared back outside towards the moving city. Friends, family and old feelings, Rory suddenly knew that controlling this situation with Logan was going to be harder then she thought.

--

Logan was lying limply in his bed, watching what Rory recognized as the Gene Wilder Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when she arrived. He didn't look up, but his lips twitched into a grin as an acknowledgement of her presence.

"I am so genuinely disturbed by this movie."

She dumped her bag on the floor near the entrance and moved near the bed, glancing over his shoulder at the screen. She giggled as a plethora of Oompa Loompa's lead a bloated blueberry Violet off the screen.

"I love this movie." She commented, and Logan looked up at her in surprise.

"Watch it with me? It's not really a one man movie anyway."

Rory grinned and nodded her assent wordlessly. She moved for a chair but Logan reached out and clasped her wrist.

"Sit by me Ace?" He asked quietly, and Rory's mouth opened as she watched him shift painfully across the bed, leaving her own little nook of bed space.

"Logan…"

"Are you going to join me?"

"Logan, you didn't have to do that."

Logan patted his side invitingly.

"I know, I wanted to. Please sit.

Nervously Rory sat down on the bed next to Logan, she shifted her weight gingerly and then glanced up at him, her eyes wide.

"Am I hurting you?"

Logan smiled. "Not at all Ace."

"Will you promise to tell me if I am? No male, heroic pretending?"

His smile widened and he pulled her closer against his thigh, his arm settling around her shoulder. She shivered at their newfound intimacy.

"I promise."

She couldn't stop the smile that twisted her features as they settled down next to each other, thigh against thigh. Logan shot her a sideways look as they both turned to the movie.

"Now, before we commence I want to make a rule."

"What?" She asked, surprised.

"No backseat Oompa Loompa-ing, leave that to the professionals."

Rory gasped keenly and pouted. "No! I hate you! That's the best part."

"I'm sorry, but no."

"But…"

"No."

"Oompa Loompa, doompity do…"  
Logan grinned and slapped a hand over her mouth. He refused to remove it until Charlie and his grandpa where farting their way up into the ceiling fan. They settled beside each other, their eyes focused on the movie, yet it was hard for Rory to focus on the hilarious high jinx of Willy Wonka with Logan's thigh pressed against hers. She listened drowsily to the thump of his heart as she laid her head against his chest, breathing in and out with its raise and fall. She knew he was nervous by the stinted gait of breathing, the flicker she felt when she knew he was watching her. Despite the fact every time she looked up he was enraptured with the movie, Rory could feel his gaze lay on her every time she turned away.

She caught him once, or maybe Logan caught her. Their eyes met in the middle, their lips turning up sheepishly in an identical motion.

"Good movie." Logan commented, amusement twinkling in his dark eyes.

"The best." She replied.

The both turned back to the movie, grins still plastered over their faces. Yet Rory couldn't resist sneaking looks whenever the sexual tension, and Logan's skin against hers, became too much. She had a hunch that he didn't differ on that account.

--

The watched the credits roll across the screen in a kind of awkward silence, the emotional truce of their stalemate over. Rory felt herself flinch as Logan reached over and turned the DVD off. They sat silently for a moment, neither moving.

"So…" Rory began finally, her voice shaky. "What do you want to do now? I brought over a few books if you feel like reading, or we could…"

"Rory." Logan interrupted her, his voice quiet but firm. The seriousness in his tone ceased her rambling. "Ace, I want to talk."

She was sure she visibly wilted and she hated herself when she saw the disappointment so obvious in his eyes. Then she reminded herself of the specifics of their break up and she didn't feel so bad anymore.

"No."

"Rory…"

"No!" She replied angrily. "I mean if you're uncomfortable with me being here…"

"No!" Logan insisted loudly. "Rory I didn't mean that."

"Then I don't…"

"I love that you're here." He continued as if she hadn't spoke. "That's the point. Rory I…"

He groaned as he watched her slip off the side of the bed. She stood, her eyes hardening into cool, dark sapphires.

"I really don't understand what you want from me Logan." Rory told him stiffly. She began pacing. Logan watched, his throat bobbing nervously but his dark eyes intent on her.

"I miss you Rory." He told her severely. "I miss seeing you every day and I miss seeing you at night and in the mornings. I miss the way you just know I'm tired or angry, or pissed off at my father and I miss how you always know how to make me feel better. I miss… I miss the way you love Antique Road show and I miss the way you tape C-Span for Paris, even though you hate it. I miss walking into your dorm and wondering how any living creature could eat so much. I miss how you get on with my friends and how you always, always come through for me. I miss being in your life Ace." He paused and he offered his hand to her, Rory looked at it nervously as if it was some kind of weapon, she didn't take it. He continued on despite her.

"If you gave me another chance…"

"Logan…"

"…I wouldn't ever let you regret it. Not ever."

He reached out with his offered hand and snatched hers, pulling her closer to the bed. Rory hesitated, but she pulled her hand out of his and tentatively stepped back. She had promised herself that she would not fall for his pretty words.

"I can't Logan." Her voice broke as the words where forced out. "I'm sorry but…"

"I love you." She started as if he had hit her. Logan kept his eyes locked on hers waiting for a reaction and suddenly Rory wanted to throw up. Was he serious? God, right now she was stuck between wanting to slap him or kiss him.

"What…" She said dumbly, she was suddenly incapable to finding words to speak to him. "Logan…"

"I love you Rory." He repeated, as if testing it out for himself. "I love you. A lot."

"No you don't." Rory said finally, and loudly. She tried to push her emotions aside for a moment and talk rationally, not let her anger or affection win out. Yet, as his confession proverbially bitch slapped her again and again, Rory couldn't handle her growing rage. "You suck Logan. You really, really just suck! I mean, I said it, I told you that I loved you and you told me you needed more time."

"I…"

"Shut up!" She snapped. Logan shrank back into his bed. "So that was fine. Sure, have some time, as much time as you want, I wasn't going to force it. But I still said it Logan, and it was a big deal."

"I know." He told her in an attempt to placate her. Rory glared at him fiercely.

"Right, so you knew how strongly I felt about you when you broke up with me. No wait, I think that dumped is a more suitable term Logan, because that is what you did. You dumped me like I was one of your bedmates, like I was some whore you had taken home for the night. You broke up with me." She paused a beat for emphasis. "Through your sister. Have you got any idea how humiliating and painful that was?"

"I do." Logan edged up into a sitting position with a wince. "I was scared… and stupid. I couldn't deal with the drama. I'm not drama guy."

"So why did you agree to be in a relationship. News flash Logan, relationships are drama."

I thought that I wanted to break up." He told her urgently. "I thought that it was a stupid experiment, me trying to be a boyfriend, and that it didn't work and I'd just move on. And I didn't. Couldn't, actually. Rory! I love you!"

Every time he said those three hateful little words she felt herself flinch, it took every ounce of self-preservation inside her to not believe what he was saying, to stay realistic.

"Logan. We're in a hospital." She reminded him softly, pulling a chair up close to his side. He raised an eyebrow at her nonplussed.

"Shocking Ace, I would never have guessed."

"We're in a hospital and you're vulnerable and I'm the closest non male, non sister companion and I just think…"

"No."  
…There might be a little bit of transference. It would only be natural.

"No!" Logan shouted, and Rory pulled back her eyes wide. He glared at her with actual anger. "Rory, I jumped off a cliff. It's not pretty and I'm not particularly proud of it, but I did. I survived that, I survived jumping off a hundred foot cliff but I swear I will not survive being with out you."

"You can't say that!" Rory spat, pulling away from the bed once again. 'You can't put me into that position. So what am I suppose to do? I walk away and you jump off a cliff?"

'I'm not saying that!"

"You just did!"

They both glared at each other with haggard breath. Rory's face a deep, angry crimson and Logan's a deathly pale. With a start she stood up and went for the door.

"Rory!" Logan called out. She kept walking until she reached the door; her hand hesitated on the handle. She felt his eyes on her back.

"You said you'd stay until I didn't want you here anymore. You promised me." He told her petulantly.

Rory almost ripped the door off its hinges storming out of the room.

--

Fifteen minutes later Rory was in the same place she had sat in her floundering rage. She sat vertically across one of the stiff vertical hospital chairs, the sharp edges digging painfully into her back and legs. She stared intently at the white, white walls, her mind purposefully blank. He had finally done it; Logan had finally blown a fuse, in both of them. She hopped it was worth it, his honesty, she hopped her tears and anger and heartbreak was worth it. Her cheeks had become stained with red trails of tears over the half an hour, although pin pointing their beginning would be an exercise in futility, and her weak limp arms where folded uselessly in her lap. Rory felt drained, in this moment she wanted nothing more then to walk out those doors and get into her car and drive all the way back to Stars Hollow where she could curl up in bed with her mummy to comfort her. Yet she still lay in the comfortable hospital chair, trying to pluck up the courage to go back into Logan's room and continue their 'conversation'.

The worst part was the she wasn't really angry at him at all anymore. She damn well should be, that was a fact, he had broken her heart, thrown her away as if she where trash and then to finish, he was poking those wounds as if he had no way if knowing they existed. Yet she was beyond being angry now, she had been angry for months and it had began to cannibalize her life. Her anger had been more then distracting, it had been all consuming, so much so that inevitably it had consumed itself and died. With her last wall of defense down, now Rory had to deal with the hurt, the throbbing pain that refused to cease despite Logan's pretty words. The hurt that had been easy to ignore when it had been blinded by anger, but was now like a beast trying to rip it's way out of her chest.

She wouldn't think about it anymore, Rory reminded herself feverishly; no number of internal pro con lists would make her ready to trust Logan, nor would they make the burn of his absence in her life any less. She forced herself to stand, more to give herself something to do then any real need for motion, and wandered down the hall towards the coffee machine. As she watched the thick black liquid fall into the token flimsy paper cup, she fished in her pocket for her phone. Absently she wondered about calling her mum (at the inn), Paris (in class), Lane (working), before quickly dismissing them all. Despite her initial reaction to talk to her mum, Rory really didn't want to talk to anybody about the Logan situation. It was hard enough to decide where to go when it was just her needs and wants, she didn't want to have to consider her mums or Paris's opinion. She stood in a sense of stalemate, one hand limply clutching at her phone, the other a cup of coffee that hadn't touched her lips. Finally, in one deliberate motion, she shoved her phone back into her pocket, wincing with both surprise and pain as her knuckles grazed something plastic and hard. Rory grimaced slightly at the irony as she pulled Logan's blackberry out of her coat pocket. She stared at it for a long moment as an idea formed in her mind. Anger and anticipation made her heart flutter as Rory scrolled through the long list of names in Logan's address book. Initial hesitation disappeared as her idea gained momentum. It was perfect, a perfect direction for her frustration.

"Mitchum Huntzberger. Leave a message."

The sound of his voice, along with the stiff formal message he had left added fuel to Rory's fury. The Gilmore in her wouldn't let this go; she would not be her mother's daughter if she didn't fight this one battle for Logan.

"Mitchum Huntzberger?" Rory asked rhetorically. "It's Rory Gilmore. I just thought I'd call and remind you that Logan is lying in a hospital bed with a partially collapsed lung and a whole host of other potentially life-threatening injuries." Her words spewed forth with little thought to censure. She couldn't stop her accumulated anger and grief following it, and she knew Mitchum would be able to here her distress in her voice.  
"And I'm figuring a guy like you, surrounded by nothing but a bunch of terrified sycophants might not have someone in his life with the guts to tell him what an incredibly selfish, narcissistic ass he's being, so I thought I'd jump on in. Swallow your pride, get in your car, and come down here and see your son, now!

She hung up with unnecessary force, and for a moment she just stood there grinning fiercely. Despite the possible repercussions of her out burst, despite the fact Mitchum Huntzberger had it in his palm to completely destroy her and her aspirations, Rory suddenly felt very light. She hadn't realized she was walking back towards Logan until she could read the number of his room. The light feeling in her limbs disappeared and her stomach curdled as she rested her fingertips on the handle. Softly she pushed the door open, and met the dark eyes waiting for her with sudden conviction. Rory knew that as long as his eyes lit up for her, she would always return to him.

"You're back?" He asked her impassively. Her gaze stayed unwavering with steely resolve, and her heart lifted slightly when he met it with the same unmoving.

"Logan." She told him quietly, so softly that she wondered if he could hear her properly. "I'll always come back."


	5. Temptation Waits

AN: Hello all!! Thanks so for the wonderful feedback I'm getting. You guys rock your socks.

_So I know a few people are wondering, so here are a few spoilers for following chapters:_

_For everyone waiting for a Rogan reunion (and aren't we all), I'm sorry but you won't see one for a while. There'll be plenty of Rogan-ness on the way, but I want this story to be about more then Logan's physical healing, but the healing of their relationship (corn goofy!grin) and that would become quickly moot if Logan and Rory spent the bulk of this fic making out. _

_The cast assembles in this chapter, which means plenty of Finn, Colin and Honor. Mitchum might make a cameo soon, but he won't have a large part because honesty, he sucks :). The latter three will definitely be major players in the remainder of this fan fiction because I love, love writing for the stooges and I think it needs another female role to counter balance their maleness._

_Thirdly, and this is the big one, Drama is looming in the near(ish) future. Let's just say that Rory was about as pristine during their time apart as Logan was, and The Real Paul Anka went in a slightly different direction then canon. _

_Anyway, that's it from me. Enjoy and Review!!!_

She sat herself tentatively into a chair next to his bed. Logan didn't cease his perusing gaze, and Rory shifted uncomfortably as she tried fruitlessly to read his expression. She wondered if he was upset with her, undoubtedly he was hurt at her dismissal, but had the hurt developed into anger when she had left? Then his lips turned up and Rory realized with relief that Logan was smiling at her.

"I'm glad you came back." He told her softly, she replied with her own sheepish smirk.

"You know what? I think I am too."

An impasse stretched between them and for many long moments Rory simply sat next to Logan, studying to tiny grooves of his knuckles and waiting for him to break their silence. She started when he finally did.

"You don't have to give me an answer right away. I can give you time, all the time you need."

The hope in his voice hurt Rory's heart a little, but she sensed his earnest.

"Thank you." She told him sincerely. Rory reached out for Logan's hand, it was cool in her hot palm and it felt good to share her warmth with him again. "That's all I need."

Silence blanketed them again, but this time Rory had no urge to end it. It was comfortable and familiar to sit with Logan and be blanketed by their companionable silence. He had entwined their fingers, and now Logan was studying them with some sort of strange conceptual curiosity. With his thumb he traced the indentured lines that tattooed their digits. Rory studied his face cautiously; looking for a trace of left over malice or regret, instead Logan seemed strangely absent. The spark in his eyes seemed to a have left and taken residence in another place, another time.

"Penny for your thoughts." She asked. Trying to retain a mask of casual interest.

Logan seemed to snap out of his thoughts, a smirk spread slowly across his face.

"Even I don't have that many pennies Ace."

She leant forwards conspiratorially, her own smirk mirroring his.

"Come on. You can tell me… Hot nurses?"  
He leant forward too until their noses where mere centimeters apart. Rory shivered as she felt his breath against her lips and resisted the urge to put space between them. She couldn't resist the challenge in Logan's eyes.

"No." He breathed. "But now that you mention it, that does seem awfully appealing."

Rory felt goose bumps raise on her skin as Logan gave her a predatory smile, her head shouted at her to break the heat between them, but her body seemed to be effectively immobile. Then, in a moment, the frisson between them broke as Logan leaned back and indicated to a plate of what looked to Rory suspiciously like hospital food.

"I was thinking about Jell-O."

Rory blinked and waited for the punch line, but instead Logan simply stared at her earnestly. She sniggered.

"Jell-O? I feel like I should be a little bit insulted."

Logan chose to ignore her insinuation and instead picked up his small plate of Jelly and showed it to her.

"I have never seen Jell-o this shade, and considering I've eaten an the Yale cafeteria at a regular basis that is really saying something."

Rory raised an eyebrow at him in exasperation.

"It's just blue Jell-O"

"It's not blue. It's purple. I've eaten blue Jell-O before, I've eaten purple Jell-O before in fact and it didn't look like this. Incidentally what flavor is blue Jell-O? Is blue a flavor?

Rory rolled her eyes.

"You've been out of a coma twelve hours and you're worrying about confectionary. I'm pretty sure I'm rubbing off on you Huntzberger."

"I'm definitely sure." Logan grinned, a tad obnoxiously. Rory cuffed him lightly on his good shoulder and shook her head.

"Blue is a flavor." She dictated blandly. Logan cocked his head in mock interest. "It's been a flavor for years Logan. Many a great manufactured good has been blue flavor, and that, my friend, is an important part of the establishment. Plus I'm pretty sure the blue Jell-O is blueberry flavored."

"This isn't blue Jell-O." Logan reminded her; Rory rolled her eyes again this time with some force.

"It's probably home brand Jell-O." She reasoned snappishly, she scowled when she watched Logan's face split into a winning smile.

"The fruits of an ivy league education, people of the jury."

Rory made a face at him and Logan simply chuckled. His face spit suddenly into a huge yawn, and Rory realized with a start how exhausted he looked. Logan smiled sheepishly at her expression.

"I swear I just woke up a couple of hours ago."

"It's the medicine they have you on for the pain." She told him softly. "Go back to sleep."

"No. I want to keep…" His body betrayed him with another yawn, and with a groan he sunk back down against his pillows. "…Talking to you."

Rory smiled and took his hand. "I'll be here."

His eyelids fluttered closed, and Rory watched silently as sleep began to overtake him.

"I miss talking to you… so much." He told her drowsily, "Sometimes I think it's the thing I miss most. Then I remember touching you, and laughing with you, and kissing you and you're so beautiful…"

"Logan." Rory scolded him softly. He ceased with a shuddering sigh and Rory felt her lips twitch up into a small sad smile as she watched him fall back into a deep sleep. Sure that he was completely out of it, she leaned down and rested her head against his side, feeling his chest raise and fall, lulling her into unconsciousness.

---

"Aw, take a moment folks to look upon the epitomization of true love."

Dimly, through a breaking veil of sleep, Rory heard Colin's voice coming from somewhere near by, his words shrouded in sickly sweet sarcasm.

"Is that sadism I hear coming from your pure and honest lips Colin?" She heard Finn snark, his voice also coming from an undistinguished part of the room.

She groaned and shifted, hoping that this interruption to her beauty sleep was just some wiggy dream.

"Shut up." She heard Finn snap in an exaggerated whisper. "You'll wake them."

"You woke _me"_

"You'd been sleeping for like twelve hours. I was bored."

"You're always bored, bored is your neutral state of mind, and I had been sleeping for eight hours thank you very much. Even Rory gets to sleep more then I do."

"All I hear from you Colin." Finn told his friend dryly. "Is bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch."

"And all I hear from both of you." Rory spoke up, her face still buried comfortably in Logan's side. "…Is noise, annoying noise."

She stewed happily for a moment in Finn and Colin's surprised silence, before turning around to face them with a self-satisfied grin. Rory yawned and blinked drowsily at them.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"I think the real question Love." Finn replied, glancing slyly at Logan. "Is what are you doing here?"

Rory felt herself blush, and she damned her sensitive complexion. She shifted away from Logan and wrapped her arms around herself defensively.

"What? It's not like you walked into a scene from Eyes Wide Shut. I dozed off."

Finn rolled his eyes.

"Sure, and we totally believe you." He paused a beat and looked between Colin and Rory who both had identical expressions of exasperation on their faces. "That was sarcasm, just so you know."

"Shocking."

With a groan Rory pulled herself to her feet, immediately regretting the loss of Logan's warmth beside her. With a single backward glance she indicated toward the door and guided Finn and Colin out of it.

"Honor just called." Colin informed her, his voice low. "She'll be here in a couple of hours."

"That's good."

"And so we thought we'd all just stay here tonight, worry about designating time until tomorrow…"

Finn, who seemed to be possessed by a sudden manic energy, cut into Colin's sober explanation.

"I was thinking red vines! Maybe some vodka for the adults, a little Tarantino…"

"Hold up!" Rory interrupted, suddenly seeing the uneasy calm that her and Logan's truce had produced flying out the window. "Are you suggesting, and correct me if I'm wrong, a slumber party? What are you five?"

"Don't try to out cool us Gilmore." Colin interjected dryly. "We've all heard about movie nights with your mum."

Rory flushed, but simply stuck out her tongue childishly. "Yeah, however my mother actually does have the soul of a five year old."

"Finn just graduated from the karmic Kindergarten."

Both Colin and Rory turned and looked at Finn who was picking at his flaking nail polish and failing to pay attention to their conversation. He looked up, and his eyes widened in surprise when he realized he was the centre of attention.

"What?"

Rory turned back to Colin.

"Fair point."

She tilted her head as she considered their idea. Shenanigans aside it was actually a pretty good idea, the company would keep Logan's spirits up and act as a buffer for the undetermined chemistry between them.

"Fine." She conceded finally, after several long minutes of consideration. "But no alcohol."

Finn gave a wicked smile that suggested that he was planning to ignore her. Rory glared at him fiercely.

"No alcohol Finn!"

Finn looked anxiously at Colin who reluctantly nodded his head, the boy deflated with a huff.

"Vixen."  
"Live with it."  
Colin cleared his throat in a deliberate way and rolled his eyes at Rory. Rory simply smirked in return.  
"Finn and I will raid the nearest Wal-Mart and you, sweet Rory, will be trusted with the imperative task of demanding a DVD player."

"I don't mind going to the supermarket." Rory offered hopefully. The idea of escaping the sterile and confining walls of the hospital was pleasantly tempting.

Both Finn and Colin adjusted themselves uncomfortably, exchanging between themselves sheepish glances.

"Well…"  
"The thing is…"

"Honor…" Colin confessed awkwardly. "Might not like us very much."

"So true." Finn sighed theatrically. "In fact I think her exact words where spoilt, over coifed, narcissistic, bitchy, imbecilic, pieces of…"

"I think it was 'excitement' but I wasn't listening too hard."

Rory frowned at them for a moment. "I'm sure she was just angry at you for letting Logan get hurt. I'm positive she didn't mean it."

"Well now actually… I think these exact words were said… when was it Colin?"

"After the TJ hookers?"

"Before that."

"After we burnt down that Duke's condo in Amsterdam."

"After that."

" The thing that 'will not be named in present, impressionable company' at her graduation party?"  
"And she had to pay back Bono for his horse! That's right!"

Rory felt a little flummoxed at the insinuations of the Terrible Three's tomfoolery. She blinked a few times and then grimaced painfully.

"Do I even want to know?"

"We wouldn't tell you if you did." Finn replied blithely.

"So you want me to wait for Honor?" Rory said unnecessarily.

"If you could."

Rory indicated to the half closed door beside her.

"Are you going in? Or did you visit purely for the joy your company brings me?"  
Finn and Colin exchanged contemplative looks, and Colin shrugged half-heartedly.

"We'll just go and get supplies. Wouldn't want to wake up Briar Rose in there."

Rory glanced in Logan's direction and nodded.

"I'll stay by him."

She immediately regretted her words as Finn's face split into a smirk of supreme satisfaction.

"I'm sure you will Love."

Rory repressed the urge to throw something hard and blunt at his smirk, and settled with a fierce scowl.

"No comments from the peanut gallery." She snapped, marching back into Logan's hospital room. Both Finn and Colin fought to repress a smile as, as an afterthought, her voice floated out to meet them. "And don't forget the Oreos!'

---

"So, Mum walks out and Sookie shows her a five tier wedding cake made entirely of S'mores."

"No!"

"I kid you not. The bride's mother had marshmallow strings coming off Gucci wrap dress."

Rory watched with a pleasure as Logan doubled up with laughter. His cut and bruised face completely transformed with mirth.

"The bride walked around with a daub of chocolate beside her mouth all night, apparently she wasn't that popular because no one thought to tell her."

Logan's chuckles only grew louder, and Rory grinned loopily.

"Although, saying that I thought I might have seen a spot of chocolate on the best man's crotch."  
Logan lurched with the effort of catching his breath between giggles.

"Stop! Stop!" He puffed hysterically. "I'm going to pop a stitch."

His words halted Rory's carefree attitude in a heartbeat and she pulled near as her face cracked into a frown.

"What? Are you ok!"  
Logan rolled his eyes at her and took her hand, patting it placating.

"A turn of phrase Ace."

Rory huffed irritably, but she couldn't stop the sheepish smile that spread across her face. She wasn't sorry when she was a spark of pleasure alight in Logan's eyes. They sat smiling in companionable silence for a long moment, both fully aware of the smiles that where plastered across their faces.

"I'm glad you made up with your mum." Logan said finally. His voice so low and intimate it sent inadvertent and unwelcome shivers down Rory's back. "You where so miserable with out her. Anyone could see that."

Rory ducked her head slightly in acknowledgement. It was obvious that she had been wreaked with out her best friend beside her for so long, yet it went unsaid between them that he had been the one then, there everyday making it better. It was easier for at the moment to try to push those memories out of her mind.

"I know." She replied simply, then as an afterthought she opened her mouth. "I never told you how th-"

Rory was interrupted by an unholy crash that headed a loud and shrill yell of indignation. Logan frowned and turned to Rory with an eyebrow cocked.

"Another escapee from the six floor psych ward?"

Logan laughed heartily at his own joke when Rory merely rolled her eyes.

"I think I might have liked you better when you where asleep."

"I'm hurt Ace, wounded."

They both turned suddenly as Logan's hospital door swung open, revealing his apparently jetlagged and obviously frantic older sister.

"Only your ego little brother." Honor remarked dryly. "Apparently your own senselessness survived the fall."

Honor waved at Rory as she brushed past her to hover over her sibling.

"Costa Rica? Cliff Jumping? Finn and Colin? Seriously Logan what the hell where you thinking?"

"Hello Honor." Logan replied dryly. He lifted his head slightly and planted a kiss on the cheek of his only bearable family member. "I'm fine, thank you for asking. How was the honeymoon?"  
"Cut short, tah for that Darling by the way." Honor told him crisply. Her gaze softened and she took in Logan's broken and bruised body, and Rory empathized greatly with how Honor must be feeling, finally confronted with the reality of Logan's injuries. "How are you really?"

"Fine." Logan told her stubbornly, he wilted slightly at the glare he received from the two females in the room. "Ok. I feel sore, stupid and powerless in this stupid bed. Happy?"

"No!" Honor sat down in the seat Rory had previously occupied and with a perverse fascination studied her brother's injuries. "What did the doctor say?"

Logan glanced helplessly at Rory who smiled sympathetically.

"When they brought him in he was in pretty bad shape." Rory interjected helpfully, Honor turned sharply and focused her attention on Rory missing the look of amusement Logan gave her behind her back. "But he's doing a lot better now. They brought down his fever and stopped the internal bleeding, re-inflated his lung…"

"Oh my god!"

"…Strapped up his broken limbs and stitched up any minor cuts and abrasions."

"Oh my god." Honor repeated in exasperation. "What the hell where you thinking Logan!"

"What?" Logan replied sulkily. "I didn't go off that cliff saying 'Golly gee Huntzberger, today I think I'll give myself some serious internal injuries'. It's not my fault I'm here."

Both Honor and Rory glanced at him in identical expressions of irritation.

"Ok…" He admitted sheepishly. "Maybe it was a little bit my fault."

"Thank god Rory was here instead of Bevis and Butthead. What do you think we'd know then huh? Jack shit that's what we'd know."

Logan glared at his sister.

"You realize I woke up over twenty four hours ago."

"So?"

"The hospital doesn't secrete information from the actual patient. Plus both Finn and Colin have access to millions of dollars so I think that given a little perseverance we would have figured out that the reason my leg is in a cast is because it's broken."

Honor huffed angrily and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Whatever!"

Rory stood suddenly and scooped up her bag.

"You know what…" She said tentatively, eager to give the squabbling siblings some room. "I'm going to go… get some coffee. Anyone else want some?"

"Don't leave on my account." Honor said stiffly, glaring at her brother.

"No!" Rory assured quickly, already on the way to the door. "You guys should um, catch up."  
She turned minutely so she was addressing Logan. "Honor's worried about you. Cut her some slack and stop acting like a two year old."

Logan opened him mouth to respond petulantly, but Rory was already out of the room and down the hall. Her heels click clacking a rabid beat with the quickening pulse of her heart.

--

After making sure the walk to and from the cafeteria took as long as humanly possible, Rory returned to find Honor waiting for her. The blonde raised her hand and wiggled her palm in a lame wave, her half smile unsure and awkward. Rory smiled and fell ungracefully into the seat next to her, handing Honor a cup of what she knew to be possibly the worse coffee made ever. The two women, united in their love for one boy, sat in quiet for a few long moments as Rory waited for her elder to speak. She flinched softly when Honor finally did break the silence.

"You didn't know did you?"

Rory's stomach dipped unpleasantly. She sniffed shortly and shrugged.

"Know what?"

"When I talked to you on Thanksgiving…" Honor's voice wavered softly. "Lo-he hadn't broken up with you…"

"No." Rory affirmed softly, studying a gritty corner of the hospital hall. "That was pretty much the first I'd heard of it."

"Wow." Honor exhaled loudly, and Rory felt a flush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks. She felt uncomfortably vulnerable discussing the intimate workings of her break up with Logan with his sister. "That kinda sucks. My brother kinda sucks."

"Yeah that was pretty much where I was coming from at the time."

"Have you talked about it at all?"

"A little, not much." Rory waved her hand vaguely as an indicator of just how brief their discussion had been. The reality was that the one and only 'discussion' they had had about the problems between them Rory had been less then receptive. The fight had been a short one, but so emotionally charged that it still weighed her down.

"Look this isn't any of my business…" Honor chewed nervously on her bottom lip, her blue eyes wide. "I guess I just wondered why you two can't work it out when you both obviously care about each other so much."

"It's kinda complicated, even to me." Rory's tongue darted out and wet her lips. "I just really don't think this is the time or the place. We're in a hospital for Christ sake."

Honor's head bobbed mutely in agreement, but with a level of discomfort Rory caught a flash of disparity in Honor's eyes.

"I want him to be well again before we have that discussion." Rory argued, and Honor raised her eyebrows lightly as if to say she agreed with her. Rory wanted to pull out her hair in frustration at that look. "I don't want him to be in a hospital bed, inside sterile hospital walls. I want to be sure that it's only Logan talking, not his injuries or his heartache or his vulnerability. I want to be sure he wants me, only me and not something he wants me to represent."

"Sure." Honor said sweetly, and she patted Rory's hand. "It's totally your decision. Don't let anyone else push you into anything you're not ready for Honey."  
Rory exhaled in relief.

"But…" She stiffened. "If you want my advice, and yes I can see that look, I know you probably don't. If you want my advice, Logan has wanted only you for a lot longer then you could imagine and I really don't think you have anything to worry about."

Honor shrugged and moved to her feet, discarding the coffee cup with a look of disgust. "What ever. Your choice."

Rory watched silently as Honor paced a few feet in obvious aggravation, and then tossed her blonde locks over her shoulder in frustration.

"God." Honor moaned shortly. "I would kill for a cigarette at this moment."

"Go ahead." Rory appeased gently. "I'm sure Logan wouldn't mind, there's a garden a few floors down."

"No way." Honor snapped. "If I have a smoke now, I'll just be my mother and have you met Shira? Of course you have, so now you understand why I'd resist anything to become that."

"You sound like Logan." Rory mused. "Except he does everything in his power to become Mitchum. Do you think everybody fears becoming their parents?"

Honor plopped back down next to her, but her body still fidgeted with nervous energy.

"I dunno, do you? Logan told me that you got on with your mum. Most of the time."

"Sometimes." Rory remarked wirily. "Only when I have to wade through the wreckages of her broken relationships. She was engaged to my Literature teacher for a very short while my sophomore year." Honor chuckled softly, and Rory sat back thoughtfully.

"I wonder if it's our fear of making the same mistakes as our parents that stop us doing so."

"I hope so." Honor replied sadly, studying her carefully manicured nails. "I used to worry about Logan through, especially when he was screwing everything that moves."

"Logan is nothing like Mitchum." Rory said with conviction.

"A man doesn't start off with a heart of solid titanium. The Huntzberger business is really hard; I just worry about Logan not having a person to ground him like you did. I don't want him to be the guy who sleeps in his office, screws his secretary and avoids his society manufactured 'family'. I want him to always remember the person he is now. Because that person is a good guy."

"He'll always have you." Rory said softly. She wanted to promise to Honor that Logan would always have her too, but with her own confusion she couldn't know objectively that she would be able to be by his side in ten years, in twenty. Even the here and now was too much for her to handle, the idea of a future made her want to run and hide.

"I want him to have more then that."

Rory didn't answer; she could hear her own distress and disappointment echoed in Honor's voice. With a gentle groan the blonde dragged herself to her feet, and, feeling slightly disconnected, Rory did the same. Honor walked forward two steps, and then she stopped herself and with out turning addressed Rory.

"Rory?" She asked quietly. "How is he really?"

Rory looked towards the hospital room that encapsulated her fears, her hopes and her dreams for whatever future together they managed to salvage. She answered for the both of them.

"He's healing."


End file.
